The statements in this section merely provide background information related to the present disclosure and may not constitute prior art.
Compressors are used in a variety of industrial and residential applications to circulate refrigerant within a refrigeration, heat pump, HVAC, or chiller system (generically “refrigeration systems”) to provide a desired heating or cooling effect. In each application, it is desirable for the compressor to provide consistent and efficient operation to ensure that the refrigeration system functions properly. To this end, a compressor may be operated with an associated protection and control system.
The protection and control system may monitor operating signals generated by compressor or refrigeration system sensors and determine compressor or refrigeration system operating data. For example, the protection and control system may determine whether compressor or refrigeration system faults have occurred. Such data, however, may be lost when the protection and control system is turned off and/or when the protection and control system is no longer associated with the compressor.
A particular protection and control system may be compatible with a number of different compressor models and types of varying capacities. Traditionally, during installation it is necessary to load compressor specific data including, for example, numerical constants corresponding to the compressor model, type, and capacity into the protection and control system. Such compressor data is generally published by the compressor manufacturer, and used during refrigeration system design. The compressor data may be used during operation of the compressor by the protection and control system to control, protect, and/or diagnose the compressor and/or refrigeration system.
Loading the compressor data into the protection and control system is an additional step performed by the installer in the field. An error by the installer in the field while loading the compressor data may not be immediately apparent and may cause future compressor or refrigeration system operational problems. Further, if either the protection and control system, or the compressor, are replaced, the compressor data must be reloaded. In the field, such compressor data may be lost when the protection and control system and the compressor are no longer associated.